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What percentage of the north american population is afraid of each of the following: Water, the dark, enclosed spaces, germs/unclean spaces
Hi there! Thanks so much for coming to Wonder with your question about phobias in the North American population. In short, according to Chapman University studies from 2015 and 2016, approximately 21% of Americans fear water, 9% fear the dark, 18% fear enclosed spaces, and 15% fear germs. Please see the below for more details.
2016 FIGURES BY CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY
One great source that I found was the Chapman University Survey of American Fears. The most recent survey, done in April 2016, addresses three of your four phobias, finding that 20.8% of Americans are afraid of deep lakes and oceans, 16.8% are afraid of small, enclosed spaces, and 14.9% are afraid of germs. This study didn't address "the dark" as a fear specifically, but did find that 8.9% are scared of ghosts, 21.1% are scared of walking alone at night, and 27.6% are scared of break-ins. While all of these are somehow related to the dark, none of them are the same as being scared of the dark itself, so we'll have to keep looking on that point. I should also point out that deep lakes and oceans, small, enclosed spaces, and germs are all considered "personal fears" by this study, which is one of 11 domains of fear identified by the university.
2015 VERSION OF SAME STUDY
In the October 2015 version of the same study, the dark is included as a fear, and was listed by 9.3% of respondents. In that version, 16.5% feared germs (12.7% listed measles and 13.5% listed whooping cough), 19.9% listed claustrophobia, and 21% listed water. These percentages are fairly consistent with the 2016 findings, with a different of 3.1% or less in each category.
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH
As one additional data point for Americans, this link provides figures of 11% being scared of the dark (which is similar to the above), but only 2.5% fearing confined spaces. The website, Statistic Brain, cites the National Institute of Mental Health, but I was not able to find this data when searching that website independently to verify.
CANADA AND MEXICO
Since the Chapman studies looked at the United States, I also tried to find data on Canada and Mexico. For Canada, this article found that 20% of men were afraid of tight spaces. In addition, a 2012 study done by Ryerson University in Toronto found that those who fear the dark may have a harder time sleeping. About half of poor sleepers admitted to fearing the dark, compared to only 20% of good sleepers. An overall figure was not provided, however. I wa not able to find any phobia breakdowns specific to Mexico.
ADDITIONAL RESEARCH
At this point I was not able to find much additional information to round out this response. I searched the US National Library of Medicine for each fear individually hoping to find medical studies looking at the phobias in question in the hopes that they would discuss prevalence, but they did not. The closest I was able to get was studies looking at claustrophobia as it relates to MRI scans, but overall prevalence was not discussed.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it appears the Chapman University data, which is widely cited by other news articles, is the best available to answer your question at this time. I hope that helps, and thanks for using Wonder!